Holidays group cuts 800 UK jobs

TUI,
the tour group that owns Thomson Holidays and Lunn Poly, is to cut 800 jobs in the UK.

The
company, which earlier this week announced plans to scrap holiday reps at some
of its cheapest resorts, said it was cutting staff across all parts of the business,
including travel agents and Britannia Airways.

It
said the cuts were part of a wider revamp to reflect changes in the way
customers buy their holidays, with more people booking online, by telephone or
using interactive television.

The
revamp of the business is being led by Peter Rothwell, chief executive of TUI Northern
Europe. Earlier this month, he told Personnel Today
sister publication Travel Weekly that “no job is safe, [not] even my own” afteraxeing five of his senior
executives.

Many
of the job losses are the result of the consolidation of its specialist
holidays group into a single corporate structure. TUI’s network of about 800 Lunn Poly branches is also being culled as shop
leases expire, rather than through a major closure programme.